Ever dream of having an entry in the Guinness World Records? Here's how to do it.

NEW YORK (AP) — Achieving the title of youngest driver to win a Formula One World Championship is really hard. Or having the most ascents of Mount Everest. But what about most soda cans crushed with your feet in a minute?

Guinness World Records is celebrating its 70th anniversary by giving regular folks a way to get into a list of their famous accomplishments — offering some unclaimed potential titles and creating an online quiz to help readers match personality types to possible records.

Do you stay calm and pace yourself? Or are you all about getting it done quickly? Answers to five questions like that online lead to world record options to attempt — like most eggs stacked in one minute or farthest distance bottle flip.

There's also a list of 70 unclaimed titles, like fastest time to make a burrito, longest marathon playing air guitar and most anchovies eaten in a minute. They're sorted by headings: speed, power, precision, passion, patience, one for under-16s and another with a friend or pet, like most items caught by a cat in a minute.

“I am completely of the opinion that we’re all amazing in our own way, it’s just discovering what that thing is and celebrating it,” says Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday. “I want to see kids in the same book as Usain Bolt.”

First published in 1955, the annual book — initially conceived to settle pub arguments — has developed into an international phenomenon, selling 155 million copies in more than 40 languages. The publication itself is listed as the world’s bestselling copyrighted book.

It started when Sir Hugh Beaver, then managing director of the Guinness Brewery, was invited to go game bird hunting in Ireland. He and his companions soon began to squabble over which was Europe’s fastest game bird. There was no quick way to solve the dispute.

Beaver dreamed up a pamphlet that could be sold to pubs alongside barrels of Guinness stout. He asked twins Norris and Ross McWhirter, who were fact-finding researchers, to compile something that would be different from the day’s encyclopedias, which were dry and very highly academic.

Glenday has been in charge of the books since the 50th anniversary and has been democratizing the record-keeping, opening up entries for things like the most sweaters worn and the loudest burp. He believes striving for goals is an innately human thing.

“The more open and free it is to everyone to have a go, I think the more we all collectively benefit,” he says. “It’s not like there’s a piece of cake that’s going to be eaten and it’s all gone. We can just keep adding and adding.”

Unlike the Olympics, which decides what is and what is not a proper sport, Guinness World Records embraces all kinds of achievement, as long as they're meaningful, interesting and a degree of effort has been made. “Otherwise, it’s official, but it’s not amazing. And we have to be officially amazing,” he says.

Guinness World Records is where you'll find Ashrita Furman of New York City, who jumped the 1,899 steps of the CN Tower in Ontario, Canada, on a pogo stick in a record time of 57 minutes and 51 seconds.

“He is a real athlete,” says Glenday. “Who else is celebrating these people and accrediting them and validating their amazing thing? No one, apart from us. So I can see why after 70 years we’re still relevant.”

To those critics who say Glenday is making a mistake by elevating, for instance, the men’s high jump world record holder in the same pages as the fastest person to ever push an orange for one mile using their nose, he disagrees. Both require concentration, training and dedication.

“To me, it is the same discipline, the same mindset. It's just society’s been sort of programmed to think one is more impressive than the other.”

Married couple Julio Mora Tapia, 110, and Waldramina Quinteros, 104, both retired teachers, pose for a photo at their home in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. The couple is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the oldest married couple in the world, because of their combined ages. They have been married for 79 years. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Seiichi Sano, an 89-year-old Japanese man, rides a wave at Katase Nishihama Beach, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo. Sano, who turns 90 later this year, has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the oldest male to surf. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Assamese dancers in traditional attire perform as they attempt Guinness World Record in the largest folk dance performance category in Guwahati, India, Friday, April 14, 2023. Around 11,000 Bihu dancers and musicians performed together to set a new record for Guinness World Record in the largest folk dance performance category today. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Andy Glass, left, and Illusionist Antonio Diaz "El Mago Pop" presented with the Guinness World Record for highest weekly gross for a solo show on Broadway at The Barrymore Theatre on Friday, June 14, 2024, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan said Monday that it would not comply with a government order to shut down its base in Akobo, an opposition stronghold near the Ethiopian border where tens of thousands of refugees have fled.

On Friday, the South Sudanese army ordered U.N. peacekeepers as well as NGOs and civilians to vacate the town ahead of a planned assault.

But the mission refused to leave and said it would provide “a protective presence for civilians” in the town, adding that the safety and security of its personnel “must be fully respected at all times.”

The U.N. Mission said it was engaging “intensively with national, state and local stakeholders” regarding this order. “Any military operations in and around Akobo gravely endanger the safety and security of civilians,” said mission chief Anita Kiki Gbeho.

The South Sudanese government has been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down about a year ago.

A dramatic escalation took place in December 2025, when opposition forces seized several government outposts in northern Jonglei. A government counter-offensive repelled their forces a month later and displaced over 280,000 people. Tens of thousands have sought refuge in Akobo, where a small contingent of U.N. peacekeepers is stationed.

Fearing the looming government assault on Akobo, humanitarian workers were evacuated over the weekend, and a mass exodus of the population has also begun.

Local officials contacted by the The Associated Press said fleeing civilians faced danger and widespread shortages of essential supplies. Dual Diew, the Akobo County health director, who has fled to Ethiopia, said there were 84 wounded patients at the hospital. “We have most of them with us here now,” he said, adding that they lack medicine and basic nursing equipment.

Christophe Garnier, the leader of Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan said the organization had to evacuate its staff from Akobo on Saturday and learned of the subsequent looting of its hospital and the ransacking of its office.

“People in Akobo must now either flee without protection or remain at risk of being killed, while losing access to healthcare and other essential services,” he said.

The three Western governments that have played a major role in the peace process — the U.S, U.K., and Norway — sent a letter to President Kiir on Monday urging that the army's evacuation order be revoked and warning of “further deaths, displacement and suffering for the South Sudanese people” if the offensive on Akobo is implemented.

United Nations peacekeepers stand near an airstrip in Akobo, South Sudan, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Florence Miettaux)